Body Composition Scale

DATELINE: NORWELL & PEMBROKE, MA

How many meals a day are ideal? What type of workout is best for refreshing the mind and body?

These and many other food and fitness questions will be addressed at the “Body Composition Body Fat to Lean Mass – Be fit and Informed” workshop to be held at Body To Soul Fitness, (behind Lowe’s home improvement) 33 Riverside Drive, Pembroke, MA on Saturday, February 9, 10:45 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Dr. Carol DeFranca and Dr. Scott Chapman, husband and wife chiropractic team of Norwell Chiropractic Spine and Sports Rehab, will lead the workshop. Drs. DeFranca and Chapman are authors, international recognized health experts and trained in both sports health and nutrition.

The workshop will include samplings of savory yet nutritious smoothies, shakes and other replenishing foods. The session is $29 for Body To Soul Fitness members and $39 for non-members. To reserve a seat, please call (781) 982-5566 or email DrDeFranca@norwellspineandsports.com.

Dr. DeFranca noted, “Better food choices and a more strategic plan can help you improve your health, achieve your health goals, and reduce your health risks. This workshop will help you learn simple things you can do every day to take control of your health – such as diet, exercise, stress management, and appropriate nutritional supplementation.”

She has recently co-authored “The Upper Body Book”, a unique instruction manual for those suffering from neck, upper back or shoulder pain, discomfort or lack of motion. Dr. DeFranca has also published medical illustrations in several scientific journals and has co-authored a chapter on Rehabilitation of the Low Back Pain Patient with Dr. Scott Chapman. She is currently working on another textbook chapter pertaining to shoulder disorders and rehabilitation.

As Board Certified Orthopedic Specialists and Chiropractors, Drs. Chapman and DeFranca specialize in musculoskeletal disorders, exercise therapy and nutritional education. For more information about, please call Dr. DeFranca or Dr. Chapman at the Norwell practice at (781) 982-5566 or visit their website at www.norwellspineandsports.com.

Norwell Chiropractic Spine and Sports Rehabilitation is located at 144 Washington Street, Route 53 in Norwell, MA.

Body Fat Scale

Body Composition Scale

It doesn’t matter what you weigh. Height and weight charts are meaningless. What really matters is the composition of your body – how much of your body is muscle and how much is fat. An understanding of body composition is one of the ways you’ll escape the gravitational pull of the diet mentality. Body composition is a much more sophisticated way to see your body. Forget the scales and the height and weight charts. Concentrate on body composition.
Body composition testing measures how lean your body is. Remember, getting lean means to enhance your lean body mass – your muscles, your bones, your organs and the fluids of your body. Body composition is the only accurate way to measure how lean you are.
We have a real challenge in this country. We live in the fattest nation on earth. The average American male is 26% body fat. The average American female is 36% body fat. Let’s put that in perspective. If this average male with 26% body fat weighs 200 pounds, it means he’s carrying around 52 pounds of fat. Fat is dead weight. Every pound of fat adds 7 miles to your circulatory system. Your body stores your toxins in your fat cells. The more fat you have on your body, the more toxic your body is.
Example. A person who is 50 pounds over his or her ideal body weight has a risk of cancer that is 18 times higher than the average. According to cutting edge research performed at Tufts University Medical School, the best single indicator of whether you’re aging successfully is your body fat percentage. The leaner you are, the more successfully you age. You can’t be too lean.
According to exercise physiology research what should your body composition be? Men should be 15% body fat or less regardless of age. Women should be 22% body fat or less regardless of age.
Fifteen percent body fat for men and 22% body fat for women will put you into good to very good health. What if you want excellent health? What if you want to be as healthy as you could possibly be? For male athletes or men who want excellent health, the range is 6 to 12% – regardless of age. For women it’s 12 to 18%.
How do you measure body composition? There are various methods. Hydrostatic weighing is the gold standard of body composition testing. It’s the most accurate, but not very practical. Skin fold calipers are nearly as accurate, a lot more practical, and a lot more comfortable for you.
Fat is stored in 3 different areas of our body. Subcutaneously – which is between the skin and the muscle. Intramuscularly – which is within the muscle (otherwise known as marbeling in steak). And, between your organs.
To obtain your body composition, it will be necessary to measure the thickness of your skin fold in 7 different locations on your body using a skin fold caliper. It will very accurately measure the thickness of your skin fold in millimeters. These numbers will be entered into a very complex mathematical formula that has been developed by exercise physiology research.
What will you learn? You’ll learn your body fat percentage which is a relationship between the amount of fat you have compared with your lean body mass. You’ll learn how many pounds of your total body weight are fat. And how many pounds are lean body mass. And you’ll learn your true ideal body weight. How is that calculated? The computer will take your lean body mass (your fat free weight) and add to that the optimal amount of body fat 15% if you’re a guy. 22% if you’re a gal. Now you have your true ideal body weight based on your body and not some height and weight chart.
Remember, you won’t always lose weight every week. But this is where the measurements really help. If you don’t lose weight, but your measurements get smaller, you’ve gotten leaner. Research reported on ABC-TV NEWS showed that adding just 5 pounds of muscle and maintaining it for one year automatically burns 91,250 calories! And burning 91,000 calories translates to losing as much as 26 pounds!
Remember, if you gain one pound of muscle and lose one pound of fat, your weight hasn’t changed, but you’re leaner.

Body Fat Scale

Body Composition Scale

Whenever we embark on any type of fitness program, we expect to make some kind of progress.  Otherwise, we would just be wasting out time.  Measuring our progress is very important not only to let us know if and how quickly we are improving, but also because it provides encouragement for us to stay on track.  However, no measurement is perfectly accurate, and not all measurements are appropriate for every goal.  Using a measurement that is irrelevant to your goal is likely to provide meaningless or inaccurate information. As a result, we should make sure that the measurements that we take are appropriate for our goals.  The tools and measurements for monitoring progress can span the full range of indicators that measure health, physical appearance/body composition, and athletic performance.  However, we will stick to indicators of physical appearance and body composition because these are the ones that generate the most interest in health and fitness. This article will list some measurement parameters along with their objectivities, accuracies, and with synopses of their uses and limitations.  For the purposes of this discussion, the objectivity of a measurement is defined as the reading’s independence from individual interpretation.  For example, weight is considered to be very objective because if the scale shows your weight to be 145 lbs, it will do so regardless of what you want it to show.  Also, for the purposes of this discussion, the accuracy is defined as the ability to accurately indicate body composition such as fat percentage.WeightTheory: Heavier person is fatter.Objectivity/Accuracy: Very objective but very inaccurate When used by itself, weight gives no useful information on body composition.  However, when combined with percentage body fat measurements, it can be useful in estimating lean mass.  It can also be useful for athletes who compete in weight divisions (i.e. boxers).Body Mass Index or BMI (Weight in kg divided by height2 in meters)Theory: If 2 people are the same weight, then the shorter is fatter.Objectivity/Accuracy: Very Objective but very inaccurate BMI gives no useful information on body composition and it is useless for computing lean mass.  However, its convenience makes it useful for studies of a general population.Girth Measurements with a Measuring TapeTheory: Smaller girth (especially around waist) is leaner.Objectivity/Accuracy: Reasonably objective but slightly inaccurate Girth measurements do not directly measure body composition but they can tell you if your waist or hip measurement is expanding or shrinking.   Girth measurements are very convenient and are useful for monitoring trends.  In addition, using a measuring tape is the best way to see if you will fit into those new clothes.PhotographTheory: If you look leaner, then you probably are.Objectivity/Accuracy: Somewhat objective but somewhat inaccurate The results that you get from a photograph are affected by the lighting, the camera and even photographer technique.  However, if you use constant photography conditions, before and after pictures are very useful for measuring your progress.Buoyancy Measurement in a Flotation TankTheory: Muscle is less buoyant than fat.Objectivity/Accuracy: Very objective and very accurate Buoyancy measurement is the most accurate way to measure body composition on living subjects and is widely accepted as the gold standard.  However, it is inconvenient and it requires a high degree of technical competence from the tester.  Also, trapped gas can affect the measurement.  Regardless, it is the most accurate way to measure percentage body fat for purposes of estimating lean mass.Skin fold Measurements with CalipersTheory: The less you can pinch, the leaner you are.Objectivity/Accuracy: Reasonably objective and reasonably accurate Skin fold Measurements are second to buoyancy measurements in accuracy.  However, it only measures subcutaneous (below the skin) fat and it requires some technical knowledge by the person who is taking the measurement.  Generally, its accuracy increases with the number of places on your body that are measured.  It can be very useful because fat below the skin is usually what determines how well your abs are showing or how you look in a swimsuit.Bioelectrical ImpedanceTheory: Muscle conducts electricity better than fat does.Objectivity/Accuracy: Very objective but slightly accurate This measurement assumes average arm length for height, along with constant hydration and electrolyte levels.  Deviations in any one of these parameters can significantly affect the measurement.  However, it is convenient and easy to use. As mentioned before, we pursue fitness for a variety of reasons and there are a variety of methods for measuring our progress towards our goals.  Whether your goal is to fit into those new clothes, to look great for that photo shoot, or simply to feel better, it is important that the means of measuring your progress is relevant to your individual goal.

Body Fat Scale

Body Composition Scale – Body Composition, Body Fat & Body Weight

Learn why body weight and body fat are not always an indication of health

By Elizabeth Quinn, About.com

Elizabeth Quinn
Sports Medicine Guide

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